New chairman named for Olympic Sailing Committee

Posted on November 6th, 2012

US Sailing president Gary Jobson announced the appointment of Ben Richardson of Gloucester, Mass., as chairman of the Olympic Sailing Committee during US Sailings annual general meeting Saturday in San Francisco.

Richardson will replace Dean Brenner of Wallingford, Conn., who has been chairman since 2008.

In his role with the Olympic Sailing Committee, Ben can draw on his years of Olympic campaigning, Jobson said in a statement. He knows firsthand what our athletes need for success. We are very happy to have him in this leadership position.

Richardson will oversee the committee, an advisory board to U.S. Olympic Sailing made up of sailors with Olympic and Paralympic sailing experience. He will serve as the senior adviser of this committee and represent it as a voting member of US Sailings board of directors, along with Josh Adams, managing director of U.S. Olympic Sailing.

Ben has a long history of involvement in Olympic sailing, including the past four years as a member of the OSC, Adams said in a statement. He is a trusted adviser to the U.S. Olympic Program, is instrumental in charting the course for the 2013-2016 High Performance Plan, the programs overall strategic plan, and brings a depth of knowledge that is invaluable to building sustainable performance across the teams.

Like every American sailor I want to see us return to the podium at Rio 2016, Richardson said. Just as important to me is that we can look back in 12 years and say that our successes at the 2024 Games were a direct result of the improvements to our development system that this committee identifies and implements over the next four years.

A graduate and member of Harvard Colleges varsity sailing team, Richardson is a partner and portfolio manager for The Boston Family Office, an investment advisory firm responsible for managing more than $900 million for private clients. He campaigned for eight years, competing in four Olympic trials across three quadrenniums, in the Laser and the Soling, and was a member of the US Sailing Team.

He represented the United States at the Pan-American Games (2003), where he finished fifth (Laser). He is a national champion in the 210 (2010) and Rhodes 19 (2012), and a Laser Master’s World Champion (2011).